So drawn, in fact, that she eventually reached out to the Smith family to offer her skills and support free of charge. Since then, Johnson has become one of the page's main administrators, controlling much of the content and interacting with its nearly 44,300 members.

From left, Tracey Bratt-Smith and TaeLynn Johnson. Bratt-Smith has started a Fundly crowdfunding account in an effort to help Johnson overcome hardships in her personal life that have left her homeless.(Photo: Submitted)

Bratt-Smith said maintaining the page and filtering its content was becoming too daunting of a task for her family, and activity on the page was lagging. Johnson noticed a somber tone take over the group page around the one-year anniversary of Macin's disappearance, and it was a time during which Bratt-Smith said she felt "hopeless."

"I could sense some discouragement from (Bratt-Smith) in her posts, and it just broke my heart," Johnson said. "As it got closer to the holidays, I couldn't stop thinking about how difficult it must have been for (Bratt-Smith) and their whole family."

“I just felt this connection to Macin that I couldn't explain.”

TaeLynn Johnson

Johnson said she can relate to the feeling, having suddenly lost her brother when he was just 16 years old. He died three days before Christmas and, for Johnson, she said she felt her heart break for Smith in a truly unique way.

The more Johnson learned about Macin's personality, his quirks, and his relationship with his family, the more she was reminded of her own brother.

"I just felt this connection to Macin that I couldn't explain beyond I felt like I understood him in a way that I understood my brother," Johnson said.

Macin Smith went missing from his St. George home at age 17 in September 2015.(Photo: Courtesy of Smith family)

Although Johnson jokes that she didn't really feel like it was her place, she felt she had to do something to help the group. So she messaged Bratt-Smith with theories and ideas she had garnered via her own casual investigative work while also offering to help manage the page by using her social media skills.

"She was able to find the niches that were missing," Bratt-Smith said. "She's a woman of action — if you want something done, she's very responsive."

Johnson has never been compensated for the hundreds of hours she's dedicated to Macin's whereabouts, Bratt-Smith said.

"I had a lot of guilt because she spent so many hours on behalf of Macin, and how do you repay that?" Bratt-Smith asked. "It's all volunteer hours. She sees some of the ugly side of the investigation, and I consider her a very loyal family member."

"There's so much she's done that people aren't even aware of," Bratt-Smith continued.

In addition to being dubbed "The face of Macin's Army," Johnson acts as a filter for leads that come in through the page, she designs graphics, has created a website for Macin's Army complete with a store of available merchandise, and she regularly posts on the page to keep morale up.

TaeLynn Johnson felt drawn to the Macin Smith case early on and now helps lead Macin's Army in an effort to bring him home.(Photo: Submitted)

But behind the scenes, Johnson said she also sets up searches in specific areas, she contacts various agencies and officials, works with investigators, and also conducts her own investigations in what she called her "stalkery headquarters in Boise."

Macin disappeared without a trace when he was 17 years old from his St. George home on the morning of Sept. 1, 2015, when he didn't get on the bus to go to school that day. Since then, numerous search efforts, bolstered by an appearance on the Investigation Discovery channel, have been organized across the county to locate him.

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Macin Smith went missing at age 17 in September 2015. He left his St. George home the morning of Sept. 1, 2015, and left behind his wallet, cash, cell phone, passport and backpack. Keri Hensley/USA TODAY NETWORK
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Since May, however, Johnson said she's had to take a step back from Macin's Army endeavors due to many personal issues she's facing in light of divorce proceedings and a custody battle involving her two young children.

"I literally am homeless right now," she said. "I've slept in shelters. I've slept in my car. My nearest family is in Cedar. There were days I drove all the way down to stay with family, but didn't end up staying long because I couldn't stay away from my kids."

In an effort to not only help repay Johnson for some of the work she's done to help locate her son, Bratt-Smith said she opened a Fundly account in Johnson's name because she's truly become a member of the Smith family.

Macin's mother, Tracey Bratt-Smith, pictured with Macin Smith in a family photo from several years ago.(Photo: Courtesy of Smith family)

In less than a week, donors had accumulated more than $2,300 to assist Johnson, no doubt much of which coming from the Macin's Army troupe.

"I never in a million years ever expected people to raise money for me," she said. "It's so strange to be on the receiving end of things like this."

"She's been an angel who's been put in our lives and carried us through at least the last eight or nine months," Bratt-Smith said. "I was feeling hopeless, so she's someone who came in and infused the army with energy and direction, and it's something I could never pay back."

As "a symbol of love and support," Johnson said she's hoping to grow the online group to 50,000 members by Sept. 1, which will mark the second anniversary of Macin's disappearance.